Thursday, October 30, 2008

Growing up I loved playing the game, the one played on hard cardboard, not a piece of glossy paper or even online, but when the Mcdonalds Corporation brought its 2008 Canadian version Monopoly sweepstakes promotion, with its 2000 controversial fraud scandal behind it, in line with the American edition that continues to be the most popular game in the industry amongst those with lower income, less education and quite obese according to various studies published and readily available to most anyone.

Unlike the actual game and contest, the credit crunch allowed those who could not afford it to buy the most expensive properties, taking a trip across Boardwalk down the Golden Arches Avenue to buy Park Place, only to find themselves seized and forclosed to either the banks or federal government as their interest and value depreciates, not collecting a tax debate or two, not able to pass go or keep going on as they are bankrupt and instead being taken directly to jail or federal penitentiary.

Keeping it real is learning of fast food franchisees unable to secure loans, lines of credit or even personal tradeoffs as restaurant operators, even those running the shop have to pay the bills to keep it running, still at the end of the day, whether their aim is strutting down either Wall or Bay Street, anyone stuck eating tons of high fat and carb and low prot food made fast and eaten faster to win big, as the sun lowers, usually remains walking down the same old Main, King or Queen Street.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Both Obama and Mccain has gone leaps and bounds during this campaign, one trying hard to run from the shadow of the past president to be and the other running from the shadow of the former first lady before that, each looking to have a decent shot at becoming the Forty Fourth President of the United States of America. But problems have bubbled up, Barack may have been born in Hawaii or perhaps Kenya, while John was born in the Panama Canal Zone, neither within the national territory limits itself. This now brings into question the eligibility of both, which gives them some commonality, not unlike how both John F. Kerry and George W. Bush were proud members of Yale's Skull and Bones in 2004.So, who is a natural born citizen, a citizen at birth, such that one can be a President someday? The 14th Amendment defines citizenship as to be "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The United States Constitution framework is gap filled by the United States Code law through Title 8 and Section 1401 which states "citizens of the United States at birth being anyone born inside the United States; any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe; any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.; any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national; any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year; any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non citizenship is not provided by age twenty one; any one born outside the U.S., if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years, with military and diplomatic service included in this time, and one last historical condition is that a person born before May, 24, 1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.Now, with no real possibility of either candidate's citizenship being constitutionally challenged in the courts, both Obama and Mccain can focus with less than one week to go on the race at hand. Barack and John, up to now, do not seem to be offering much change in substance if at all and very little in style, which sadly leads one to think that it will be a campaign that goes racial. As an American dual citizen myself, I think it really is comfortable to know we half and halfs have a chance and choice to change America at the highest level, if we ever think that things are getting out of control down there for our fellow Americans, because America only needs one special interest group in control of it and that is Americans.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

York treats special team better than Mac

Getting accepted this summer by York University towards entering its law school was great, getting an invite to its football recruitment day was even better, yet getting to know the club's attitude on special teams was key for me to develop a throughout opinion about the school. Seeing how important they spoke about the kicking and punting and of course the return game on punts, kick offs and missed field goals, I felt more emphasis was given to it there at York than what Mac had said to me back in 2006 and moreso last year as the change from Greg Marshall to Marcello Campanaro to Stefan Ptaszek have left it near dead, surprising it tis one third of the Canadian game that is one third needs more time and care than a couple minutes after the real practice. Even if York is not where it should be right here right now, it gets that it needs to be, especially on the special teams where a punt return for 50 yards or a kickoff return for 35 yards can start the offense right off on the right foot to create a greater chance at scoring.The overall theme I got from that 50-13 drubbing by the Laurier Golden Hawks was bend, break and bust, we will once again be back next year, I believe they will get better eventually winning the Red and Blue Bowl first then eventually other games will follow.I do believe there is a culture for winning at the school deep within its soul, Mike Mclean seems to want to bring that junior football championship attitude he developed out west in Edmonton and the university one out east in Halifax to York and that works, especially when it comes to just plain old winning games any and every given Saturday. Johnny Syme's pal Bart Zemanek played a most valuable game, as its most valuable player he should return as either a graduate assistant or coordinator to bring the field to the clubhouse, I feel he could lead and inspire the boys especially from what Johnny has said about the man. Experience is what is needed, without it games are impossible to win, as it grows it goes and so will York.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Despite a marvellous 5-2 record atop the Canada West Universities Athletic Association division of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the Simon Fraser University Clan will likely be playing National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II by the 2010-11 season, going down south after coming up from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II in 1997. While the ability to offer full ride athletic scholarships is key, something one can not do in Canada after several years of denial, its athletic director David Murphy believes it goes back to their traditions. Likely joining former opponents in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Clan may be going back to old traditions, but will lose out on our Canadian identity, especially if others follow suit, which I believe will likely be the case. The CIS should allow for the full ride for athletic scholarship like the NCAA, now that it has brought in athletic eligibility restrictions, you can not expect to act like the Americans in one area, then pretend to still be Canadian in another, either wear the Maple Leaf with pride or make academically based athletics open season for all.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mcguinty, not Harper, won the election last night. A cool and calm voice of reason asked for fairness for Ontarians, as we all know that building a strong Ontario for a strong Canada makes for a strong Confederation, the Government of Ontario's Fairness campaign stated just that. In a time Liberals need a sense of direction, Dalton has found it by attacking Stephen's anybody but Ontario interprovincial spending budget, especially when the federal mandate is weakened yet again by a third straight minority government in four consecutive years, with the results being obvious election night, as the federal Tories put their money down on Québec or nothing, gaining little in seats from their side with a -1 loss and much in alienation from ours with a +11 gain. A year before the big fiscal bust, Harper's Minister of Finance and former Mike Harris Tory Jim Flaherty calls our home "the worst place to invest", I would simply say to him that it also is "the worst place to run and represent", if you are going to make harmful statements like that about your home province. Ontario Liberals are far away from perfect, but they are right about Ontario and the need for interprovincial fairness in the Confederation right here and right now, perhaps the problem is they are too quiet on the issue, leadership is about being loud, the exact time for Ontario to gain that will be here soon.

Monday, October 13, 2008

After one delicious Thanksgiving photo shoot and turkey eat, the evening turned over to risktaking, in both the financial stock markets and political federal elections, with my projection remaining the same, a Stephen Harper Tory minority government with no funny business by the opposition until after the pecuniary storm. This may force the Liberals, New Democrats or Greens into democratic leadership reviews, but I do not think so, or would truly hope not, Stephen got 2004 so why can not Stéphane have 2008, as well Dion seems to need time now to actually fashion a proper agenda for himself, not using a watered down version of the fifth party's with its "Think Green Vote Liberal" mantra. The federal Tories will gain, the Liberals will lose and Jack Layton's New Democrats will take the leftovers with some breaded stuffing on the side. Gilles Duceppe's Bloc Québécois will remain steady and since Elizabeth May's Greens never really had a seat in the House at dissolution, nor shall they have one when it when Parliament reconvenes whenever that is, though I do believe there ideas have made quite the difference in this election, just like the Reformers before them. All in all, this election will likely replicate the markets in one way, in the end this will turn out to be all really be about nothing, in the long term sense of things.